Two Years Ago

Rapunzel entered Cass's room at the Academy but stopped when she saw that Cass was packing a bag. "You're leaving?" she asked, holding the present she made for Cass in her arms.

Cass tensed. "I thought I said I never wanted to see you again? You lied to me, Rapunzel. You didn't tell me that Gothel was the woman who…" She shook her head and turned around to face her. "I'm leaving the Academy. The Society lied to me. They're keeping things from me. And I'm going to make them pay. They're fake. All of them. I'm going to show them just how fake they really are." Her eyes flitted down towards the present in Rapunzel's hands. "What's that?"

"Oh. It's a painting. I made it for you." She handed it over.

After a moment, Cass took it. Painted on the canvas were the colors purple and gold. Swirls of it. "Why did you make this for me?"

"Because you've been a good friend to me. You took me in and showed me around the Academy. You helped me at a time when I was really afraid. No one else did that for me. So… thank you."

Cass looked up at her with a scowl on her face. "You know I'm mad at you. I can never forgive you for lying to me about my mother."

"Maybe not. But I still wanted to give you that. This way you always have a piece of me, no matter where you go. In my eyes, we'll always be friends."

"You're naïve, Rapunzel."

"I'm optimistic. Well… anyway. I'll let you finish packing and you can leave. Goodbye, Cassandra."

She walked away but before she left the room, she thought she heard Cass say, "Goodbye," in return.


London, 1891

Rapunzel could only stand there as the wolf form of Madame Beaumont came lunging for her neck. But at the last moment, she was pushed out of the way.

She expected it to be Eugene but it had been… Cass.

She stumbled back and Eugene caught her while Cass strode forward with her sword drawn. She swung it at the wolf and Madame Beaumont went jerking back with a whine. Madame Beaumont looked between Cass and Rapunzel before she sprinted away, off into the dark streets of London.

"There goes the one person who knows where the next clue is," Eugene muttered. "And she's in wolf form. Which means she can't tell us and would rather kill us. That's just great."

"We'll follow her," Cass said, sheathing her sword. "I nicked her. She's leaving behind a blood trail. We'll find her and try to get her to turn back into her human form." She paused. "Or, well… whatever species she is. And then we'll get her to tell us the location of the next clue."

"All we know is that it's a castle near a lake," Rapunzel said, walking away from Madame Beaumont's house. The rest of the party scattered with people running about, freaking out over having just seen a woman transform into a wolf.

"We need to catch that beast!" a man's voice thundered. Turning around, she saw that it was Maxwell. "Who's with me?"

The other men outside shook their heads and quickly walked away. Maxwell turned to Eugene and frowned. "Well, you'll at least help me, old chap."

Eugene scoffed. "Buddy, I don't like you. I'm not helping you at all."

Maxwell turned to Rapunzel and Cass and opened his mouth before closing it. "Never mind. You two are just women. What can women do?"

"Last I checked," Cass said, "I'm the one with the sword."

Maxwell shuddered. "And you shouldn't have a sword. You're a woman. But none of that matters now. I'm going after that beast." He ran past them and disappeared into the dark.

Eugene glanced over at Rapunzel. "Uh… who's going to stop Mr. Snobby Pants from killing the one person we need that has our next clue?"

"We are," Rapunzel said.

He sighed. "That's what I was afraid of."


The three of them headed in the direction of Madame Beaumont's blood trail but it was hard to see in the dark. Sure, there were street lamps but the ground was practically black, making the already dark blood almost invisible.

"I guess there's one good thing to come out of this," Eugene said. "If we can barely follow the blood trail, then I doubt Maxwell is having any better luck than us. Guy doesn't seem like he can see much past his own two feet."

"Or his own ego," Cass muttered. "Did you see the way he dragged Madame Beaumont out of her own house? Ridiculous."

"It made me want to slap him," Rapunzel admitted, making both Eugene and Cass look at her in surprise.

"Who knew you had such a violent side?" Cass said.

Eugene chuckled. "Oh, you'd be surprised."

"Yeah? Like what? What has Rapunzel ever done that was violent?"

"The first time we met," he said, "she used a sword and jammed it down onto a Scattal's head after she jumped onto his shoulders. I was both scared and impressed."

"Scattal?"

"Yeah, you know. Automaton race of aliens."

Cass rolled her eyes. "I know what the Scattal are. I just didn't realize you had a run in with them."

"That was how I died," Rapunzel said in a soft voice.

Cass did a double take before looking away. "Oh."

"Yeah."

Eugene looked between them. "Well, this just got awkward."

"I say we stop chit-chatting and find Madame Beaumont," Cass said. "I'm going to walk ahead." She did that before anyone else could say anything.

Rapunzel hung back with Eugene. "So, you were both impressed and scared of me?"

He winked as he threw his arm around her shoulders. "Oh, you know it. I've always been a little scared of you."

"Really?"

"But I've also always been a lot of impressed by you."

She smiled as she shook her head. "That doesn't even make sense."

"It doesn't have to. It's you and me, Blondie. You and me."

She leaned into him. "Always."

They were sharing a smile when Cass called back to them. They broke apart and walked over to her.

She was pointing her sword down at a huge puddle of blood on the ground. "I think I found something. And I don't think it's good."

"We have to save Madame Beaumont," Rapunzel said right as a scream went through the night.

Except, it wasn't a woman's scream. It was a man's. And it was coming from the alleyway up ahead.

They ran to the sound and stopped when they saw that it was Maxwell, leaning against the wall, clutching at his stomach, which had been torn open.

Madame Beaumont was before him, snarling her teeth.

"How are we going to do this?" Eugene asked.

"Cass," Rapunzel said, turning to her. "Can you knock Madame Beaumont unconscious?"

"I can try." She stalked towards the wolf.

"What are we going to do?" Eugene asked.

"We are going to save Maxwell."

He looked at her for a moment before scoffing. "Please tell me you're joking." When she didn't respond, dread filled his chest. "You're not joking. Got it."

Maxwell slumped to his knees when Rapunzel and Eugene ran over to him. "Oh thank goodness. People here to save me." When he saw who it was, he jerked away from them. "Ugh. Not you people."

"Regret trying to help him now?" Eugene said to Rapunzel.

She only shook her head and extended her hand out to Maxwell. "Let us save you."

"You better. I don't deserve to die by a beast." He took her hand and she helped him up. "I am bleeding out here. I need medical attention."

"Yeah, yeah," Eugene said. "You'll get medical attention. Just calm down."

"A beast ripped open my stomach." He removed his hands away from his body to show just how much damage Madame Beaumont had caused. In fact, it was just a cut across his abdomen. Sure it was bleeding but it wasn't life-threatening.

Eugene rolled his eyes.

Maxwell jumped practically ten feet into the air when Cass dropped the unconscious body of Madame Beaumont at his feet. "There. I knocked her out."

"How?" Eugene asked.

Cass lifted up the hilt of her sword. "It was easy."

"We need to kill the beast," Maxwell said. "Here. Give me your sword."

Cass held her sword closer to her body. "No way. We're not killing her."

"Her? It's an animal."

"And last I checked," Cass said flatly, "animals have genders."

Maxwell scoffed. "I'll just do it myself."

"No," Rapunzel said, shoving him away from Madame Beaumont's body. He stumbled back and ended up hitting his head against the wall, which caused him to fall to the ground and go unconscious. Rapunzel gasped and checked his pulse. "He's alive."

"Shame," Cass said.

Eugene turned to her. "You know, I'm usually the one who says the sarcastic lines around here."

"Not anymore."

He could only give her his best withering look. "I don't like you."

"The feeling is mutual."

"Guys, stop," Rapunzel said. "We need to get Madame Beaumont to my tower where she can stay safe until she changes back into her human form."

"What about him?" Eugene asked, pointing at Maxwell.

Rapunzel winced. "We have to bring him back with us too."

"What? Blondie, that's the most insane thing you've ever said. And I love you, so I mean that affectionally but… that's insane. You've met the guy. He's a total ass."

"So were you," she said, kissing him on the cheek.

"When was I an ass?"

She only smiled. "We need to take Maxwell with us because we can't just leave him in the street when I'm the reason he's unconscious right now. Besides, we need to make sure he doesn't try to do anything dangerous again. We can lock him up as well until he calms down."

"Fine," Eugene said. "But I'm not the one who's going to carry him back to your tower."

He ended up being the one to carry Maxwell back to Rapunzel's tower. Well, it was more of a drag than a carry but still, Eugene had to do all the work. Cass carried Madame Beaumont back, making it look effortless, which he hated.

"There," he said, dropping Maxwell onto the floor of Rapunzel's tower. "Be impressed ladies."

Cass made a point of setting Madame Beaumont down. "You're not the only one who carried someone."

"A wolf weighs a lot less than a human man, so there."

Rapunzel stood between them. "No time for bickering. We need to tie Maxwell up before he wakes up. As for Madame Beaumont…" She bit her lip, looking around the room. "We can put her into the dresser. Hopefully when she wakes up, she'll calm down and help us."

After tying Maxwell to a chair and putting Madame Beaumont in the closet and locking the door so she couldn't get out, they waited for their two unintentional guests to wake up.

Madame Beaumont was first.

It was obvious from the snarling and clawing coming from the dresser but the dresser held. She wasn't going anywhere.

"How are we going to get her to turn back into a human when we can't even ask her how?" Cass asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Eugene said. Cass gave him a flat look. "Apparently not. She's clearly a werewolf. When Maxwell dragged her outside, it was a full moon. So, doesn't it stand to reason that we wait for the full moon to pass and she'll turn back?"

"It's worth a shot," Rapunzel said.

"But what are we going to do about him?" Cass asked, nodding at Maxwell.

He jerked awake, tugging at his ties. "What's going on? Unhand me! Release me! I will have your heads for this!"

"Oh boy," Eugene muttered quietly to Rapunzel. "This is going to be fun." Then he tossed a tight smile in Cass's direction. "See? I say the sarcastic remarks."

She only scowled.

Eugene walked over to Maxwell and smacked him upside the head. "Listen here, buddy. We tied you up because you tried killing Madame Beaumont. We're going to keep you here until we know for sure you won't try murdering more people."

Maxwell huffed. "Unhand me, you cretin."

"Cretin? That's a new one. Never been called 'cretin' before."

"I say we ignore him," Cass said. "He's not going to be able to help us. And he's just annoying me." She turned to Rapunzel. "Do you have any duct tape?"

"Over there." Rapunzel pointed to the kitchen. Cass grabbed duct tape off the counter and used some of it to close Maxwell's mouth.

"There," she said. "Blissful silence."

"Thank god for that," Eugene said.

"Help… me," a strained voice said from the closet. Everyone went still.

Rapunzel hurried over to the dresser and pressed her ear to it. "Madame Beaumont?"

"I can't… talk… long," she responded. It sounded like it was causing her pain with every word she said.

Rapunzel ripped open the dresser doors. Madame Beaumont was still in wolf form but she wasn't attacking them. "You can talk when you're a wolf?"

"Not… for… long," she reminded them.

The sight of a talking wolf was one of the strangest sights Eugene had ever seen. (Also one of the most badass).

Maxwell jerked his head to look at Madame Beaumont, giving her a look like she was even more of a beast than he had thought.

"I can only turn… back into a human… by…"

"By what?" Rapunzel asked.

"Find the… ghost orchid… and then infuse it with… blood. It has to be… type A negative. The person with the… right blood… needs to be present.. at the ceremony. Then feed me the concoction … under the full moon by tomorrow… night."

"Oh, is that?" Eugene asked, rolling his eyes. "How do we find a ghost orchid and a person with A negative blood all by tomorrow night?"

"I will… remain as a wolf… until then. But hurry. My wolf side is taking back… over." Madame Beaumont's eyes went dark and a slow growl escaped her as she bared her fangs. Rapunzel quickly shut the door before Madame Beaumont could attack again.

And just in time too, because Madame Beaumont banged against the dresser door, trying to get out.

"She couldn't have just told us where the next clue is?" Eugene muttered.

Cass sighed. "Apparently not."

"That's ok," Rapunzel said, ever the optimist. "We know how to turn her back into a human and then she can tell us where the next clue is. Now, we need to find a ghost orchid."

Eugene clapped his hands together. "Great. Let's get on that."

"There's only one problem."

He dropped his hands to his sides. "Of course there is."

"A ghost orchid is a very rare flower. It can only be found in a few places on earth."

"So… what's the problem? Blondie, you have a time machine. We can go anywhere."

"I know. But the chances of finding a ghost orchid in any of those places isn't guaranteed. We could be looking around for days and lose the chance to turn Madame Beaumont back into a human by tomorrow night."

Maxwell was trying to say something around the duct tape but it was unintelligible.

Eugene would have been fine ignoring Maxwell's ass but the other guy was practically bouncing off his chair, trying to get their attention.

"What?" Eugene asked, ripping the duct tape off Maxwell's mouth.

"I know where you can find a ghost orchid," he said.

Cass looked at him for a moment before she laughed. "You can't be serious? You? You're an imbecile."

"Who has a fascination with anything that has the word 'ghost' in the title," he responded, looking way too smug about that fact.

"So, tell us," Eugene said.

Maxwell smiled. "Let me go first."

"I'm going to punch him. Blondie, let me punch him."

Rapunzel sighed and walked over to Maxwell, staring down at him. "You will tell us where we can find a ghost orchid. Now. And afterward, we can let you go. I think that's a fair deal. You don't have any other options."

Maxwell looked between the three of them before be dropped his head and nodded. "A deal. But I don't trust females so I'll need him" – he nodded at Eugene – "to make the deal."

"I'm going to punch him this time," Cass muttered.

Rapunzel motioned for Eugene to do as Maxwell wanted even though Eugene didn't want to promise anything to Maxwell. He'd rather break his nose and Eugene loved his nose.

"Fine," he said. "I promise we'll let you go after you tell us where the ghost orchid is."

Maxwell looked even smugger. Bastard. "You can find the ghost orchid at the Kew gardens. Now, let me go."

"No," Rapunzel said so fast that it even surprised Eugene himself. "We're not letting you go until we have the orchid and we know we can trust you."

"But-," he started to say until Rapunzel cut him off.

"But we cant leave you alone in here with Madame Beaumont. You might try and hurt her."

"Need I remind you that I'm hurt?" He nodded down at his stomach, then paused. "Wait? Why am I not bleeding?"

"My tower heals people. Don't question it. You're physically fine. But you're going to come with us to get the orchid and we're not letting you out of our sight. Not until Madame Beaumont is a human again."

Maxwell pouted and stomped his feet. "But you have to let me go."

"Buddy," Eugene said, "we don't have to do a damn thing. Now, you're coming with us to get the orchid."

"But the gardens don't open until tomorrow morning," Maxwell said.

Rapunzel smiled. "Then we're going to have a long night ahead of us."


Cass headed back to her own tower for the night while Rapunzel and Eugene remained to keep an eye on Maxwell and Madame Beaumont.

"I guess we won't be getting freaky tonight," Eugene quietly said to her as they stood by the balcony.

She laughed. "Who says 'getting freaky?'"

"Uh, I do. And it's cool, I'll have you know." He wrapped his arms around her waist. "So, do we really have to play babysitter to Mr. Douche for the night?"

"We have to keep an eye on Maxwell. I don't want him doing anything to Madame Beaumont."

Eugene sighed and rested his chin on the top of her head. "Neither of us are getting any sleep, are we?"

"Nope."

"Normally I'd be happy about not getting any sleep with you but now, it's just depressing because not only will I not get any beauty sleep, I have to listen to Maxwell bitch and moan all evening."

"Why won't you let me go?" Maxwell called out. "I gave you valuable information. This is unfair. This is preposterous!"

"See?" Eugene said to Rapunzel. "He's proving my point."

"Let's just sit out here and look at the stars," she said, linking her fingers through his.

"Man. I doubt you can see the stars above London in our time."

"I know. That was one good thing about the past – the beauty of the sky. The beauty of natural land before it was overtaken and industrialized." She rested her head on his chest while he wrapped his arms around her from behind. "The rest of it? I could do without."

"I know what you mean. I would hate to live permanently in the past. No good face creams anywhere."

She laughed. "Well, none that used arsenic anyway."

"True that." He kissed her temple. "I can't wait until we find the Society's headquarters. One because I'm tired of dealing with bullshit like Maxwell and Cass."

"Be nice," she teased.

"And two," he continued in a more serious tone, "because I want to see you meet your parents. I want you to get what you want."

Her eyes misted over. "No one has ever said that to me before."

"Well, I'm glad to be your first. In all areas." He waggled his eyebrows together.

"We are not 'getting freaky' tonight, Eugene."

"Hey, a guy could try, can't he?"

She smiled as she leaned into his arms and stared up at the night sky, preparing for a day of adventure tomorrow.


They left Madame Beaumont behind in Rapunzel's tower as they left for the Kew Gardens to get the Ghost Orchid.

Maxwell was with them and wasn't happy about it. "Why can't you just let me go?" he whined.

"Because if you do, you're going to just cause more trouble," Eugene said. "You're sticking with us until we can bring Madame Beaumont back. And also, it's just funny to see you whine and beg."

Cass actually smiled at that, which made Eugene feel… weird. He hated Cass with every fiber of his being but if she was smiling, then that meant he wouldn't have to deal with her annoying personality for the day.

They reached the Kew Gardens, which housed hundreds of flowers within a beautiful glass building. A lot of people walked by in fancy day dresses. Even a man waving a baton was standing at the entrance.

"I didn't think the 1800s would have guards guarding flowers," Eugene said.

"There are very rare flowers in the collection," Maxwell said. "They need to be protected."

"Too bad we're going to steal one of them."

Maxwell frowned but didn't say anything.

They walked into the glass building. Eugene's senses were assaulted with floral smells. Flower upon flower took up space all over the walls and in specific sectioned off areas just for observation.

"So, where is the Ghost Orchid?" Cass asked.

Maxwell still didn't say anything.

Eugene shoved him. "Tell us."

"You don't have to push me," he objected. "I will tell you."

"So, then tell us," Eugene said.

Maxwell sighed. "Fine. It's on the second floor."

"Let's go," Rapunzel said, hurrying towards the stairs. The sun was shining in through the glass windows, acting as a reminder that they only had until tonight to turn Madame Beaumont back into a human. Once she was turned back, she'd be able to tell them were the next location of the Society's clue would be.

Once they reached the next floor, Rapunzel pointed at a flower. "There it is."

The Ghost Orchid was simple and pretty. Nothing to rave at in Eugene's opinion. "This is one of the most rare flowers in the entire world?" he asked.

"Yes," Rapunzel said, leaning in close to it. "And we need it. So, Eugene, do what you do best and…" She nodded at it.

"How am I supposed to steal it in broad day light with people all around us? I'm assuming I can't damage it in the process."

"That would not be ideal, no," she said. "But you know how to steal, so steal."

"Your faith in me is astounding, Blondie."

She just smiled.

Eugene looked around to make sure no one was watching at that particular moment before he grabbed the stem and broke the flower off.

"There," Rapunzel said, patting his arm. "That wasn't so bad."

"Thief!" Maxwell shouted, pointing at Eugene. "Thief!"

A guard came running in Eugene's direction.

"You spoke too soon, Blondie," he muttered.

"Sorry," she squeaked.

"Run!" Cass shouted before she darted in the opposite direction of the guard. Rapunzel followed Cass. Eugene would have followed but Maxwell clamped onto his arm, stopping him.

"This is the thief!" he said as the guard approached.

"I didn't steal anything," Eugene said, tossing the orchid onto the ground.

Rapunzel ran back and picked it up before running away again.

Maxwell's eyes widened. "Catch her!"

The guard glared at Eugene – "You stay here," he said - before he followed Rapunzel.

"I hate you," Eugene said to Maxwell.

"I will not let you steal a very rare flower."

"Oh? But you were ok with killing another person?"

"Madame Beaumont was not another person. She is a beast and deserves to die."

"And why do you think we're keeping you captive?" Eugene asked pointedly.

"Because you and your friends are also beasts," Maxwell spat out.

"I don't have time for you. My girlfriend is in danger because you couldn't keep your mouth shut. Now get out of my way." He shoved Maxwell to the side and then ran after Rapunzel.


Rapunzel held the orchid in her hands as gently as she could as she ran away from the guard chasing after her. Cass was ahead of her.

Who knew stealing a flower in 1891 would have been this difficult? Rapunzel knew a lot of things but that was one thing that surprised her.

She was sprinting towards the stairs, which was hard to do in her dress with all it's layers, but she wouldn't stop. Madame Beaumont was counting on them to save her and Rapunzel would make sure she could.

She had hope until the guard grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Give me that back," he said, his hand outstretched for the flower.

"Sorry." Rapunzel brought her foot down and stomped onto the guard's foot, making him release her. She ran away but the guard was persistent and followed.

She reached the stairs but the guard slammed his hands against her back and she went falling. Cass, who was at the bottom of the stairs, turned around and saw, her eyes widening.

Rapunzel's body hit the stairs hard and pain radiated up her side. The guard reached down to grab the orchid from her…

… but then Cass was there, kicking the guard away. He fell onto his back. She helped Rapunzel stand up. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Rapunzel said, shocked that Cass was concerned for her. "Here. Take the orchid. You're faster. Get it back to my tower."

Cass looked between her and the orchid. "You do know that I could get all the ingredients and turn Madame Beaumont back into a human and gain the information I need, all without you? I could leave you behind."

"You could." Rapunzel placed her hand on Cass's arm. "But you're not going to."

Cass was quiet for a moment. "You're right. I'm not going to. But you shouldn't trust so easily, Raps. You could get hurt."

"Just take the orchid."

She grabbed it and nodded before running away. By the time the guard got back up, Cass was long gone with the orchid.

"Where's the flower?" he asked.

Rapunzel shrugged. "I have no clue. And you should be ashamed of yourself. Pushing a woman? What is wrong with you?"

The guard actually flushed. "Uh, sorry, Miss. But you were stealing."

"I don't have a flower on me, do I? So, what could I have stolen?"

"Exactly!" Eugene said, running over. "We can sue you for pushing my girlfriend down a flight of stairs." He turned to her. "Are you ok? I saw that bastard push you and I couldn't do anything about it."

"I'm not sure," she said, looking at the guard. "I could be seriously injured and it would all be this man's fault."

The guard quickly backed away. "I'm apologize. I'm so sorry." He hurried away.

Rapunzel and Eugene shared a laugh.

"But seriously, are you ok?" he asked.

"I'll be fine. A little bruise. My tower will heal me. Now, Cass has the flower. We need to get back to my tower, then find someone with A negative blood."

"Good idea." He paused, then his eyes widened. "Um… hold on one second." He ran back the way he came. Rapunzel followed.

"What's going on?"

Eugene stopped before the spot where the Ghost Orchid once was. "See someone missing?"

She frowned. "What?"

"Maxwell is gone, Rapunzel."

She gasped and looked around herself. Eugene was right. Maxwell was gone. That could only spell disaster.


Until Wednesday!